Chronological NT Plan

¹James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad: Greetings.

²Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials,

³knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

⁴And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

⁵But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

⁶But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

⁷For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,

⁸being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Now the brother or sister of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position;

¹⁰but the rich person is to glory in his humiliation, because like flowering grass he will pass away.

¹¹For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed; so also the rich person, in the midst of his pursuits, will die out.

¹²Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

¹³No one is to say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

¹⁴But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

¹⁵Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it has run its course, brings forth death.

¹⁶Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters.

¹⁷Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.

¹⁸In the exercise of His will He gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.

¹⁹You know this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;

²⁰for a man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness of God.

²¹Therefore, ridding yourselves of all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness, in humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls.

²²But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves.

²³For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror;

²⁴for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.

²⁵But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an active doer, this person will be blessed in what he does.

²⁶If anyone thinks himself to be religious, yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this person’s religion is worthless.

²⁷Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

¹My brothers and sisters, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism.

²For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and is dressed in bright clothes, and a poor man in dirty clothes also comes in,

³and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the bright clothes, and say, “You sit here in a good place,” and you say to the poor man, “You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,”

⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives?

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court?

⁷Do they not blaspheme the good name by which you have been called?

⁸If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law according to the Scripture, “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,” you are doing well.

⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Law as violators.

¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole Law, yet stumbles in one point, has become guilty of all.

¹¹For He who said, “DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY,” also said, “DO NOT MURDER.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but do murder, you have become a violator of the Law.

¹²So speak, and so act, as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.

¹³For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What use is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?

¹⁵If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,

¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

¹⁷In the same way, faith also, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.

¹⁸But someone may well say, “You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”

¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

²⁰But are you willing to acknowledge, you foolish person, that faith without works is useless?

²¹Was our father Abraham not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar?

²²You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected;

²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “AND ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and he was called a friend of God.

²⁴You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.

²⁵In the same way, was Rahab the prostitute not justified by works also when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

²⁶For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

¹Do not become teachers in large numbers, my brothers, since you know that we who are teachers will incur a stricter judgment.

²For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to rein in the whole body as well.

³Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their whole body as well.

⁴Look at the ships too: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are nevertheless directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot determines.

⁵So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!

⁶And the tongue is a fire, the very world of unrighteousness; the tongue is set among our body’s parts as that which defiles the whole body and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

⁷For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race.

⁸But no one among mankind can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

⁹With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people, who have been made in the likeness of God;

¹⁰from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things should not be this way.

¹¹Does a spring send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water?

¹²Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, bear olives, or a vine bear figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

¹³Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

¹⁴But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.

¹⁵This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peace-loving, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, free of hypocrisy.

¹⁸And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

¹What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is the source not your pleasures that wage war in your body’s parts?

²You lust and do not have, so you commit murder. And you are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

³You ask and do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, so that you may spend what you request on your pleasures.

⁴You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

⁵Or do you think that the Scripture says to no purpose, “He jealously desires the Spirit whom He has made to dwell in us”?

⁶But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE.”

⁷Submit therefore to God. But resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

⁸Come close to God and He will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

⁹Be miserable, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom.

¹⁰Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

¹¹Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. The one who speaks against a brother or sister, or judges his brother or sister, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you, judging your neighbor?

¹³Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

¹⁴Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.

¹⁵Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

¹⁶But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil.

¹⁷So for one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, for him it is sin.

¹Come now, you rich people, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you.

²Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten.

³Your gold and your silver have corroded, and their corrosion will serve as a testimony against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!

⁴Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of armies.

⁵You have lived for pleasure on the earth and lived luxuriously; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

⁶You have condemned and put to death the righteous person; he offers you no resistance.

⁷Therefore be patient, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.

⁸You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near.

⁹Do not complain, brothers and sisters, against one another, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

¹⁰As an example, brothers and sisters, of suffering and patience, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord.

¹¹We count those blessed who endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful.

¹²But above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but your yes is to be yes, and your no, no, so that you do not fall under judgment.

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.

¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;

¹⁵and the prayer of faith will restore the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him.

¹⁶Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. A prayer of a righteous person, when it is brought about, can accomplish much.

¹⁷Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months.

¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.

¹⁹My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you strays from the truth and someone turns him back,

²⁰let him know that the one who has turned a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.